French Head of Delegation Alexandra Redde-Amiel has confirmed in an interview that France will select their entry for the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest via a national selection. The nation also used a national selection to select Barbara Pravi as their act for this year’s contest in Rotterdam.
After launching a new selection show, Eurovision France – C’est vous qui décidez!, this year, Redde-Amiel said that there would be some tweaks made for 2022 though much of the format will be kept the same. Barbara Pravi won the 2021 selection with her song “Voilá” which remains as one of the favourites to win the contest in Rotterdam.
“Now, the choice is yours!”
Speaking to L’Eurovision au Quotidien, Alexandra Redde-Amiel confirmed the return of the national selection format. She added that the delegation was very happy about using a national final to select the French act again.
Yes, this format will be repeated next year, and we are very happy about it… Eurovision France makes it possible to mobilise France by saying “now, the choice is yours!”. We are extremely satisfied.
– Alexandra Redde-Amiel, speaking to L’Eurovision au Quotidien
The Head of Delegation added that there would be some minor changes made for 2022, though many elements will be kept from this year.
There are, of course, areas for improvement, especially since we went live without having done a pilot, so that might tell you about the stress that was present! We spotted a few tweaks, little thing to review, maybe in the mechanics… we are going to refine the show, but without completely changing it, because we are very proud of the result.
– Alexandra Redde-Amiel, speaking to L’Eurovision au Quotidien
Getting ready for Rotterdam
Of course with only a few weeks until the grand final in Rotterdam, Alexandra Redde-Amiel also discussed her hopes and visions for France in this year’s contest.
We keep a cool head… We know very well that the truth will be that of 22nd May, with the votes of the juries and those of the public. Barbara is very happy to see that her song is being appreciated, but she is very realistic about the rating she could get. That’s why we don’t scream from the rooftops that we’re going to win.
– Alexandra Redde-Amiel, speaking to L’Eurovision au Quotidien
She also added that no talks are currently in place between the French delegation and the EBU regarding the possibility of hosting the 2022 contest.
France will however be hosting this year’s Junior Eurovision Song Contest on 28th November after Valentina won last year’s contest in Poland. No cities have currently applied to host the event and the delegation plan to approach cities, instead of having cities apply to host the contest.
France in the Eurovision Song Contest
One of the founding nations of Eurovision, France has won the contest five times – most recently, in 1977, when Marie Myriam took first place with “L’oiseau et l’enfant”. France has only missed two contests in 1974 and 1982.
France hasn’t had massive success in Eurovision in recent years, last reaching the top 3 in 1991 – when they missed out on the win to Sweden by the result of a tie-break. Since 2000, France has reached the top 10 four times – Natasha St-Pier in 2001, Sandrine François in 2002, Patricia Kaas in 2009 and Amir in 2016.
This year, Barbara Pravi will represent France with her song “Voilà” – the first French song to be sung completely in French since Madame Monsieur in 2018. Barbara is hoping to score France’s best result in many years as she stands second in the current odds.
Are you looking forward to another French national final in 2022? Do you think Barbara can score a good result on 22nd May?
Let us know in the comments below and on social media @ESCXTRA.
I hope so!
My hopes for returning countries in 2022: Andorra (rumored), Armenia, Belarus and Montenegro (so far I know)
My prediction on withdrawing countries in 2022: Albania, Moldova, North Macedonia and Slovenia (These countries’ broadcasts might have low budget due to COVID-19 pandemic)